Area runners find success in college

Darrell Hamlett

Published
7:00 pm CDT, Sunday, October 6, 2002

Montgomery County is a hotbed for high school cross country with the nation's top-ranked boys team at The Woodlands High School as well as Willis High School boasting the state's third-ranked 4A girls team and the tenth-ranked boys team.

With such great programs in the area, it's no wonder that colleges from around the country have former Montgomery Country athletes on their teams.

The Woodlands High School graduate Louis Bordes has helped the nation's second ranked men's team Arkansas win three straight meets. The Razorbacks took first at this past weekend's Oklahoma State Cowboy Jamboree after winning the Missouri Southern Invitational and the Arkansas Invitational.

Bordes, who was red-shirted last year, posted a personal best time of 25:15 at the 8,000 meter Jamboree event. The time was good enough for 26th place at the nation's oldest cross country meet.

His previous best was 25:28 at the Missouri Southern meet where he was 14th. At the Arkansas Invitational's four-mile race, Bordes finished 13th at 21:20.

Arkansas, which finished third in the NCAA last year and has 10 national titles, will go for its 29th consecutive conference championship in November.

While Bordes left the Lone Star State for college, the John Cooper School's Lauren Murphy decided to stay close to home as she accepted a scholarship at Rice.

"Lauren is the first Cooper student to get a track scholarship at a Division I school," said Cooper head coach George Dohner. "She is a terrific kid. She set high goals for herself and worked hard to achieve them and we're very proud of her."

Murphy, who won the TAPPS 4A state title last year in 1600 meters, has helped the Lady Owls win two meets this fall. Rice dominated the SMU Invitational as Murphy finished 14th at 20:22 before taking the team title at the LSU meet. Murphy finished 27th there at 24:11.

Conroe High School graduate Jason Henderson has made his way to Pennsylvania where he is running for Gettysburg College. The junior transferred there this fall from Sam Houston State University.

This past Saturday a group of former Montgomery County football players played a big part in a pair of Big 12 games.

The Woodlands High School graduate Daniel Andino hit the game-winning 33-yard field goal with a half-second left in the Bears' 35-32 victory over Kansas in Waco. The win snapped Baylor's 29 consecutive conference losing streak.

The senior kicker connected on a 46-yard field goal earlier in the third quarter and also had three extra-points. He is 4-for-4 on field goals this year and 13-for-16 on PATs.

The Woodlands' Matt Amendola also helped out the Bears in the victory as the junior defensive back had an assisted tackle.

Other county graduates on the Baylor roster are freshman running back Jonathan Sisk from Conroe and freshman defensive back Jason Lumpkin from Montgomery.

While Baylor was improving to 3-2 on the year and 1-0 in the Big 12, Jason Simpson and the Missouri Tigers were busy trying to upset the No. 3 Oklahoma Sooners. The Sooners pulled out a 31-24 win on a fake field goal in the fourth quarter. Simpson, a redshirt freshman from The Woodlands, had two solo tackles and one assists in the game to bring his season total to 33.

A trio of Caney Creek High School graduates have been helping the Texas Lutheran University Bulldogs succeed in a variety of sports.

Jeff Paras was a two-sport star for the Bulldogs before being forced to give up football this year due to concussions. In his two years as a wide receiver, the former Panther had 22 catches for 297 yards.

With his football career over, Paras will now concentrate on baseball. Last year as a redshirt freshman, he went 2-0 and had a 1.61 ERA in 13 appearances for the Bulldogs who went 33-6 and won their second straight American Southwest Conference West Division title.

Paras will be joined on the baseball diamond this spring by Oak Ridge's Brandon Berryhill, who red-shirted last year, and true freshman Adam Enloe from Montgomery.

While Paras was helping TLU on the baseball diamond last spring, fellow Caney Creek graduate Brandi Jones was helping out the TLU softball team. The freshman had a .348 batting average with two doubles and five RBIs while also going 1-6 on the mound with a 3.77 ERA and 27 strikeouts in 13 appearances.

This fall Paras and Jones were joined in Seguin by another former Panther as Tess Pena headed to TLU to play soccer. She has earned a starting position as a defender for the Lady Bulldogs who are 5-4 on the year.

If you have any information on a former Montgomery County athlete now competing in college, please email the Courier at couriersports@hcnonline.com.